We performed a comparison between IBM API Connect and IBM Datapower Gateway based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: All other things being equal, IBM Datapower Gateway has a slight edge in this comparison because it received higher marks than IBM API Connect in the service and support category.
"The product gathers data to measure API performance."
"The most valuable feature for me is the ability to distribute work among our API developers, so we don't have to do all the work as IBM API Connect administrators and IBM DataPower administrators."
"One of the most valuable features is the easy-to-use web interface."
"The solution offers a pretty good SLA."
"It is quite stable. We've not had any problem. It has made for a good buy because we are finding that other companies that have similar set ups go down maybe once a month."
"It is a complete all-in-one solution."
"I have found IBM API Connect to be highly secure, efficient, easy to deploy, and has a great GUI. It can operate and integrate well with other vendors, such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft."
"API Connect is a very good platform for the development of APIs."
"The scalability of the solution is good."
"The product's most valuable features are AAA policies and security features."
"The product is stable...The product is scalable."
"The solution is straightforward and for large organizations, it functions well."
"The solution is very easy to work with."
"I like all of the features in this product and it does what it's supposed to do."
"The API Connect gateway service and the SQL injection feature is good."
"The most valuable features for our business include the ability to monitor and log data transactions and handle multiple request at an enterprise level."
"Due to bugs in integration, we have to look for workaround on fixing and using DataPower as gateway."
"We've had some issues upgrading to the latest version of the solution."
"There are some performance issues and issues related to asynchronous APIs."
"Like any typical IBM infrastructure setup, you need to learn to set it up yourself. It's not one of those simple zip files or an archive unzip and you're up and running in some few minutes. Knowledge to set it up is key."
"Possible improvement is mainly around having more of the cloud oriented architecture bringing stability in adding new capabilities around security."
"We ran it on top of the Kubernetes cluster, so it wasn't a standalone service. In the worst-case scenario, API Connect couldn't stay online if all the containers went down. We had to restart all the services. We shut down all the containers automatically one by one."
"I would like to see support for non-Java based services. We struggle a bit to be able to deploy and connect our .NET services because of things like data types. We had to map a couple of things. For one solution provider, we had to move them to .NET Core before we could use it properly. I would like to see more agnostic tool service platforms rather than moving it more towards Java or open source."
"There are issues with upgrading in the cloud version. The cloud version is extremely buggy. We prefer to use the on-premise version."
"They should add features to manage API integrations."
"In the next release, I would like to see the product price reduced. It should be cheaper."
"The initial setup isn't so easy, you need who has experience working with the solution to help."
"The solution requires a lot of training manuals in order to get to know it better and to be able to use it effectively."
"We are always looking for more features wherein it could be easily integrated with cloud applications. We are looking for either a cloud solution or a cloud integration option."
"Its support services could be better."
"I would like the tool to improve its training."
"The components that they include in the product that are, in fact, a WTX, really need to be removed from the product because they tend to fail."
IBM API Connect is ranked 5th in API Management with 73 reviews while IBM DataPower Gateway is ranked 7th in API Management with 27 reviews. IBM API Connect is rated 8.0, while IBM DataPower Gateway is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of IBM API Connect writes "Good speed and performance, but it's based on a bit dated architecture". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM DataPower Gateway writes "Security features meets compliance needs and offers MPGW (Multi-Protocol Gateway) that simplifies integration efforts ". IBM API Connect is most compared with Apigee, Microsoft Azure API Management, MuleSoft Anypoint API Manager, Amazon API Gateway and Kong Gateway Enterprise, whereas IBM DataPower Gateway is most compared with Apigee, Microsoft Azure API Management, Mule ESB, IBM Integration Bus and Kong Gateway Enterprise. See our IBM API Connect vs. IBM DataPower Gateway report.
See our list of best API Management vendors.
We monitor all API Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.